Learning Among Neanderthals And Palaeolithic Modern Humans

Author : Yoshihiro Nishiaki,Olaf Jöris
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2019-11-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789811389801

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Learning Among Neanderthals and Palaeolithic Modern Humans by Yoshihiro Nishiaki,Olaf Jöris Pdf

This book is based on the research performed for the Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans Project. The central issue of the project is the investigation of possible differences between the two populations in cognitive ability for learning. The project aims to evaluate a unique working hypothesis, coined as the learning hypothesis, which postulates that differences in learning eventually resulted in the replacement of those populations. The book deals with relevant archaeological records to understand the learning behaviours of Neanderthals and modern humans. Learning behaviours are conditioned by numerous factors including not only cognitive ability but also cultural traditions, social structure, population size, and life history. The book addresses the issues in two parts, comparing learning behaviours in terms of cognitive ability and social environments, respectively. Collectively, it provides new insights into the behavioural characteristics of Neanderthals and modern humans from a previously overlooked perspective. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of understanding learning in prehistory, the driving force for any development of culture and technology among human society.

Author : Alex Mesoudi,Kenichi Aoki
Publisher : Springer
Page : 169 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2015-04-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9784431553632

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Learning Strategies and Cultural Evolution during the Palaeolithic by Alex Mesoudi,Kenichi Aoki Pdf

This volume is motivated by the desire to explain why Neanderthals were replaced by modern humans, in terms of cultural differences between the two (sub-) species. It provides up-to-date coverage on the theory of cultural evolution as is being used by anthropologists, archaeologists, biologists and psychologists to decipher hominin cultural change and diversity during the Palaeolithic. The contributing authors are directly involved in this effort and the material presented includes novel approaches and findings. Chapters explain how learning strategies in combination with social and demographic factors (e.g., population size and mobility patterns) predict cultural evolution in a world without the printing press, television or the Internet. Also addressed is the inverse problem of how learning strategies may be inferred from actual trajectories of cultural change, for example as seen in the North American Palaeolithic. Mathematics and statistics, a sometimes necessary part of theory, are explained in elementary terms where they appear, with details relegated to appendices. Full citations of the relevant literature will help the reader to further pursue any topic of interest.

Author : Francesca Romagnoli,Florent Rivals,Stefano Benazzi
Publisher : Academic Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2022-06-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780128214299

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Updating Neanderthals by Francesca Romagnoli,Florent Rivals,Stefano Benazzi Pdf

Updating Neanderthals: Understanding Behavioral Complexity in the Late Middle Paleolithic provides comprehensive knowledge on Neanderthals who lived throughout the European and Asian continents. The book synthesizes historical information about the study of Middle Paleolithic populations and presents current debates about their genetics, subsistence, technology, social and cognitive behaviors. It focuses on the last phase of Neanderthal settlements and presents the main patterns of modern humans across Europe. Written by international experts on the Middle Paleolithic who have conducted innovative studies in the last three decades, this book explores the implications of interactions between different human species, including Neanderthals, Denisovans and Sapiens. In addition, the book discusses the diversity and variability of human adaptations and behaviors in the changing climate and environment of the Late Pleistocene, and the relationship between these behaviors, demography and cognitive capabilities. Offers a comprehensive update on the variability and diversity of Neanderthal behaviors during the Late Pleistocene Presents an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Neanderthals by assessing archaeology, paleontology, paleoecology, anthropology, genetics and cognition Reviews the reliability of archaeological data and the theoretical and methodological advances of the last 30 years Discusses the most debated Neanderthal themes, such as demography, diet, socio-economy and art

Author : Takeru Akazawa,Yoshihiro Nishiaki,Kenichi Aoki
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2013-12-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9784431545118

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Dynamics of Learning in Neanderthals and Modern Humans Volume 1 by Takeru Akazawa,Yoshihiro Nishiaki,Kenichi Aoki Pdf

This volume presents the first of two proceedings from the International Conference on the Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans, which took place in Tokyo in November 2012. Focussing on a highly innovative working hypothesis called the ‘learning hypothesis’, which attempts to explain the replacement as a result of differences in the learning abilities of these two hominid populations, the conference served as the latest multidisciplinary discussion forum on this intriguing Palaeoanthropological issue. The present volume reports on outcomes of the conference in three major sections. Part 1 provides an archaeological overview of the processes of replacement/assimilation of Neanderthals by modern humans. Part 2 consists of archaeological and ethnographic case studies exploring evidence of learning behaviours in prehistoric and modern hunter-gatherer societies. Part 3 presents a collection of papers that directly contributes to the definition, validation and testing of the learning hypothesis in terms of population biology and evolutionary theory. A total of 18 papers in this volume make available to readers unique cultural perspectives on mechanisms of the replacement/assimilation of Neanderthals by modern humans and suggested relationships between these mechanisms and different learning strategies.

Author : Clive Finlayson
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2004-03-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781139449717

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Neanderthals and Modern Humans by Clive Finlayson Pdf

Neanderthals and Modern Humans develops the theme of the close relationship between climate change, ecological change and biogeographical patterns in humans during the Pleistocene. In particular, it challenges the view that Modern Human 'superiority' caused the extinction of the Neanderthals between 40 and 30 thousand years ago. Clive Finlayson shows that to understand human evolution, the spread of humankind across the world and the extinction of archaic populations, we must move away from a purely theoretical evolutionary ecology base and realise the importance of wider biogeographic patterns including the role of tropical and temperate refugia. His proposal is that Neanderthals became extinct because their world changed faster than they could cope with, and that their relationship with the arriving Modern Humans, where they met, was subtle.

Author : Donald O. Henry
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2003-10-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781441183095

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Neanderthals in the Levant by Donald O. Henry Pdf

The volume traces the controversy that revolves around the bio-cultural relationships of Archaic (Neanderthal) and Modern humans at global and regional, Levantine scales. The focus of the book is on understanding the degree to which the behavioral organization of Archaic groups differed from Moderns. To this end, a case study is presented for a 44-70,000 year old, Middle Paleolithic occupation of a Jordanian rockshelter. The research, centering on the spatial analysis of artifacts, hearths and related data, reveals how the Archaic occupants of the shelter structured their activities and placed certain conceptual labels on different parts of the site. The structure of Tor Faraj is compared to site structures defined for modern foragers, in both ethnographic and archaeological contexts, to measure any differences in behavioral organization. The comparisons show very similar structures for Tor Faraj and its modern cohorts. The implications of this finding challenge prevailing views in the emergence of modern human controversy in which Archaic groups are thought to have had inferior cognition and less complex behavioral-social organization than modern foragers. And, it is generally thought that such behaviors only emerged after the appearance of the Upper Paleolithic, dated some 10-20,000 years later than the occupation of Tor Faraj.

Author : Takeru Akazawa,Naomichi Ogihara,Hiroki C Tanabe,Hideaki Terashima
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 243 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2014-01-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9784431545538

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Dynamics of Learning in Neanderthals and Modern Humans Volume 2 by Takeru Akazawa,Naomichi Ogihara,Hiroki C Tanabe,Hideaki Terashima Pdf

This volume is the second of two volumes of proceedings from the International Conference on the Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans, which took place in Tokyo in November 2012. This second volume reports, in four major sections, findings by cultural anthropologists, physical anthropologists, engineering scientists and neurophysiologists, integrated in multidisciplinary fashion to solidify the overall understanding of the mechanics of replacement from cognitive and physical perspectives. Part 1 provides examinations of replacement related questions from various perspectives in cognition and psychology. Part 2, consisting of studies rooted in body science and genetics, provides detailed findings which fill in the broader frame of the replacement phenomenon. Part 3 presents a collection of papers whose findings about fossil crania and brain morphology shed direct light on immediate questions regarding replacement. Part 4 provides illuminations similar to those in part 3, but arising from the analytical empowerment afforded by neuroscience. The collection of 26 papers in this volume makes available to readers both broad and narrow insights on the mechanisms of the replacement/assimilation of Neanderthals by modern humans and at the same time provides a model of new-paradigm multidisciplinary collaboration on a complex problem.

Author : Rudolf Botha
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2020-05-21
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9781108491327

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Neanderthal Language by Rudolf Botha Pdf

By appraising controversial inferences from prehistorians and other scientists, the book addresses the fascinating question of whether Neanderthals had language.

Author : Paul A. Mellars
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 493 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2015-07-28
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780691167985

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The Neanderthal Legacy by Paul A. Mellars Pdf

The Neanderthals populated western Europe from nearly 250,000 to 30,000 years ago when they disappeared from the archaeological record. In turn, populations of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens, came to dominate the area. Seeking to understand the nature of this replacement, which has become a hotly debated issue, Paul Mellars brings together an unprecedented amount of information on the behavior of Neanderthals. His comprehensive overview ranges from the evidence of tool manufacture and related patterns of lithic technology, through the issues of subsistence and settlement patterns, to the more controversial evidence for social organization, cognition, and intelligence. Mellars argues that previous attempts to characterize Neanderthal behavior as either "modern" or "ape-like" are both overstatements. We can better comprehend the replacement of Neanderthals, he maintains, by concentrating on the social and demographic structure of Neanderthal populations and on their specific adaptations to the harsh ecological conditions of the last glaciation. Mellars's approach to these issues is grounded firmly in his archaeological evidence. He illustrates the implications of these findings by drawing from the methods of comparative socioecology, primate studies, and Pleistocene paleoecology. The book provides a detailed review of the climatic and environmental background to Neanderthal occupation in Europe, and of the currently topical issues of the behavioral and biological transition from Neanderthal to fully "modern" populations.

Author : Nicholas John Conard
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 520 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Antiquities, Prehistoric
ISBN : PSU:000060656216

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When Neanderthals and Modern Humans Met by Nicholas John Conard Pdf

Author : Paul Jordan
Publisher : The History Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2001-02-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780752494807

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Neanderthal by Paul Jordan Pdf

The story of Neanderthal man. Was he our direct ancestor, or was he perhaps a more alien figure, genetically very different? This title brings us into the Neanderthal's world, his technology, his way of life, his origins and his relationship with us.

Author : Donald O. Henry
Publisher : New Approaches to Anthropologi
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2023-02-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9781350343993

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Neanderthals in the Levant by Donald O. Henry Pdf

This significant contribution to scholarship on the Middle Paleolithic, now reissued with a new preface, traces the controversy that revolves around the bio-cultural relationships of Archaic (Neanderthal) and Modern humans at global and regional, Levantine scales. The focus of the book is on understanding the degree to which the behavioral organization of Archaic groups differed from Moderns. To this end, a case study is presented for a 44-70,000 year old, Middle Paleolithic occupation of a Jordanian rockshelter. The research, centering on the spatial analysis of artifacts, hearths and related data, reveals how the Archaic occupants of the shelter structured their activities and placed certain conceptual labels on different parts of the site. The structure of Tor Faraj is compared to site structures defined for modern foragers, in both ethnographic and archaeological contexts, to measure any differences in behavioral organization. The comparisons show very similar structures for Tor Faraj and its modern cohorts, and the implications of this finding challenge prevailing views that Archaic groups had inferior cognition and less complex behavioral-social organization than modern foragers. The study also calls into question the contention that such behaviors only emerged after the appearance of the Upper Paleolithic, dated some 10-20,000 years later than the occupation of Tor Faraj.

Author : Yoshihiro Nishiaki,Yasuhisa Kondo
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 316 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2023-09-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789819937127

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Middle and Upper Paleolithic Sites in the Eastern Hemisphere by Yoshihiro Nishiaki,Yasuhisa Kondo Pdf

This book provides an overview of the archaeological sites and cultural assemblages in the world and presents an archaeological database that has been established through two large-scale research projects conducted between 2010 and 2022. The projects were Replacement of the Neanderthals by Modern Humans (2010–2015) and The Cultural History of PaleoAsia (2016–2022), both of which were carried out with the aid of the Japanese Government. They deal with multi-disciplinary studies of the demise of more archaic hominins and the survival of anatomically modern humans. Although the database is designated PaleoAsiaDB, which may imply a focus on Asia, it incorporates the dataset collected from Africa and Europe by the Replacement of the Neanderthals by Modern Humans project. PaleoAsiaDB provides a list of more than 3,300 sites and 7,600 cultural assemblages of the Middle and Upper Paleolithic (Middle and Late Stone Age) of the Eastern Hemisphere as of 2020. This database is the first attempt of its kind to document the related sites of 200-20ka. The full version of the database is available at the University Museum on the University of Tokyo homepage.

Author : Francesco d’Errico,Lucinda Backwell,Bernard Malauzat
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 606 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2005-06-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781776142293

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From Tools to Symbols by Francesco d’Errico,Lucinda Backwell,Bernard Malauzat Pdf

A number of researchers have tried to characterise the anatomy and behavioural systems of early hominid and early modern human populations in an attempt to understand how we became what we are. Can archaeology, palaeo-anthropology and genetics tell us how and when human cultures developed the traits that make our societies different from those of our closest living relatives? In which cases are these differences substantial, and when do they simply reflect our definitions of culture, species, the image we have of their evolution or of ourselves? From Tools to Symbols, a collection of twenty-seven selected papers from a South African-French conference organised in honour of the well-known palaeo-anthropologist Phillip Tobias, provides a multidisciplinary overview of this field of study. It is based on collaborative research conducted in sub-Saharan Africa by South African, French, American and German scholars in the last twenty years, and represents an excellent synthesis of the palaeontological and archaeological evidence of the last five million years of human evolution.

Author : Erella Hovers,Steven Kuhn
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2007-01-06
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780387246611

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Transitions Before the Transition by Erella Hovers,Steven Kuhn Pdf

Modern human origins and the fate of the Neanderthals are arguably the most compelling and contentious arenas in paleoanthropology. The much-discussed split between advocates of a single, early emergence of anatomically modern humans in sub-Saharan Africa and supporters of various regional continuity positions is only part of the picture. Equally if not more important are questions surrounding the origins of modern behavior, and the relationships between anatomical and behavioral changes that occurred during the past 200,000 years. Although modern humans as a species may be defined in terms of their skeletal anatomy, it is their behavior, and the social and cognitive structures that support that behavior, which most clearly distinguish Homo sapiens from earlier forms of humans. This book assembles researchers working in Eurasia and Africa to discuss the archaeological record of the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age. This is a time period when Homo sapiens last shared the world with other species, and during which patterns of behavior characteristic of modern humans developed and coalesced. Contributions to this volume query and challenge some current notions about the tempo and mode of cultural evolution, and about the processes that underlie the emergence of modern behavior. The papers focus on several fundamental questions. Do typical elements of "modern human behavior" appear suddenly, or are there earlier archaeological precursors of them? Are the archaeological records of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age unchanging and monotonous, or are there detectable evolutionary trends within these periods? Coming to diverse conclusions, the papers in this volume open up new avenues to thinking about this crucial interval in human evolutionary history.